The Easter eggs have been eaten, the chocolate bunnies have been eaten (apart from those given to amazing persons who can keep theirs intact and unwrapped for weeks). Children have put their Easter bonnets to one side following the school's parade. Indulgent grannies are wondering why their grandchild didn't win with the chickens, daffodil and ribbon concoctions they bravely wore as they stomped around the school halls up and down the country.

In Newark, the Amateur Operatic Society has sung its way through several performances of the musical "Grease" every night to thunderous applause and packed audiences at Newark's splendid Palace Theatre. What a great vibrant musical it is. When the local Grove School gave a week of extremely energetic performances, it proved to be one production that didn't struggle to persuade boys to audition; they happily queued for the opportunity to don the leather jackets and strut about the stage as the "oh so cool" Jets.

I just returned from visiting family in London. Within a couple of hours on the train, I was in the capital city and on m way to Wisley, a breathtakingly beautiful (and packed) horticultural centre. "Let's get out in the countryside." we said. Faced with parked cars as far as the eye could see, we were thinking our visit could be brief when we were directed to the corner of a field with "No Parking" painted on the gate. "It'll be all right" we were assured, "We didn't expect the extra thousands, so we're using every corner." Sometimes you just have to trust what people say.

Once away from the hordes, we wandered through vast open spaces of orchard, alpine gardens, fields of spring flowers and fountains. In the restaurant, the food was delicious, but a time and motion study of the staff could have been used for a training video.....how NOT to do it! Perhaps it was their first day and there'd been no training time. Or possibly they'd not expected such vast numbers, but as the queue grew and wound its way out the door and I lost the will to live as the staff all disappeared....again, I gave myself a stern talking to (silently of course-I didn't want to be arrested) Patience! After all we Brits are famous for our queuing stamina.

Back in Newark, turning out of my road has become a touch easier thanks to the newly introduced speed limit of 30 miles per hour. Although it feels so slow and the mushrooming speed cameras in this country are driving us to despair and much longer journey times, it has to be safer.

By the time you read this, we folk across the pond, should be well into plans to shift the results of EEOI. Hope you all had a peaceful and blessed one.